Hairpin



W. F; PEET.

HAIRPIN.

APPucnou HLED ma. 15, 1921.

1,383,0 1 6. Patented June 28, 1921.

UNITED sTATes PA'rENT OFFICE.

`W'AI'TER' F. IPEET, OF PHILADELiPI-IIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T HIMSELF AND EDWARD B. PEET, OF PHILADELPI'IA, PENNSYLVANIA, COPARTNERS TRADING UNIDER THE NAME OF PEET BROTHERS.

HAIRPIN.

Application filed March 15, 1921.

- T 0' all 'w hom 't may concern:

Be it known that I, VALTER F. Pnirr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Hairpins, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

The old fashioned hair pins comprising perfectly straight legs are distinctly advantageous in that they are easily applied and removed, are entirely comfortable to the wearer, and do not tend to tear or unduly `pull a hair-net when engaged therewith.

While hair pins whose legs are oorrugated, undulated or spirally contoured are old and well known and possess certain advantages, mainly the maintenance of the hair in fixed position and resistance to accidental displacement and disengagement, they lack the advantages of the old fashioned pins and hence thelatter are still in wide and general use. Such modified hair pins not only usually lack the advantages inherent in the old fashioned straight shank pins, but many of them also exhibit other disadvantages, such as a tendency for the legs to spread apart at their free ends and a tendency of other distortions of a permanent Character, all of which, by impairing their utility, reduce the life of the pins.

The object of my invention is to provide a hair pin which will combine, as far as possible, the advantages of the two types of pins and escape the disadvantages of either.

To this end, I have devised a hair pin of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein-- Figure 1 is a face view of the hair pin.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal edge view.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view.

The hair pin illustrated comprises a single length of wire bent upon itself at a to form two legs or shanks, which are nearly parallel but preferably diverge slightly toward their free ends, as in the ordinary hair pin. These legs are, throughout the major part of their length perfectly straight, but are provided with undulations, waves or bends at intervals. Specifically, each leg, starting from the connecting bend Specificaton of Letters Patent.

Patented. June 28, 1921.

Serial No. 452,472.

comprises, successively, a straight section b, a bend c, a straight section (Z, a bend e, a straight section f, and bend g, and a straight sectlon /t terminating at the free end. The four straight sections of each leg are in allnement. The bends of each leg eXtend at right angles to a plane in which lie the straight Sections of both legs. The upper and lower bends c and g extend away from this plane in one direction, while the middle bend extends in the opposite direction. The bends of the two legs are respectively opposlte one another, but each bend of one leg extends in a direction opposite to that of the inimediately opposite bend on the other leg.

In nserting the pin into the hair, it is obvious that until the first, or lower, pair of bends engages the hair, the pin enters with a minimum of resistance. As the first pair of bends slide through the hair, the tendency is for the legs` to tilt in respectively opposite directions away from their normally common plane, and a resistance, which is appreciable but easily overcome, to further movement is encountered. ThereafterV the pin slides relatively easily until the middle pair of bends enters the hair, at which point there is a tendency toward another displacement of the legs away from their common plane; but to the eXtent that that tendency is operative, each leg tends to tilt in adirection opposite to that which occurredl at, the entrance into the hair of the first pair of bends. The next movement of the pin occurs without substantial resistance until the upper pair of bends enters the hair, when again there is a tendency to a displacement of each leg similar to that which arose when the first pair of bends entered the hair. Thereafter the pin slides relatively smoothly until its crotch obstructs further movement.

It is appreciated that the above description of the mode of operation is not precisely accurate, in that continuously after a pair of bends enters the hair it measurably resists further movement and during its whole movement its tendency to displacement of the legs as described is continually operative. It is a fact, however, that in the insertion of the pin, the wearer feels a succession of appreciable obstructions to movement corresponding tO the several pairs of:

bends. Practically, after the second bend enters the hair, there is a more or less continuous play of two opposing` forces, each tending to displace each legaway from the normal common plane of both legs in respectively opposite directions3 the next result of which is the attainment of a grasp upon the hair more secure than in the case of the old fashioned pins and at least comparable with that obtained in known pins provided with corrugated, bent, or twisted shanks. On the other hand, the removal, as well as the insertion, of the pin may be readily effected without a pulling movement upon the hair, the pins are entirely comfortable when in use they do not tend to tear or over-pull a hair net when engaged therewith, and they maintain their characteristic shape and efliciency after long continued use.

Several features of importance as cont ibuting to the attainment of the above ad- Vantages may be particularly stressed.

The pin has nobends in a direction parallel to the plane of its extension. The existence of such bends'causes a spreading action of the legs away from approximate parallelism. Inasmuch as this spread condition eXi'sts after the pin is inserted in the hair1 it tends to become fiXed; thereby, after a few uses of the pin, seriously impairing` its utilityf- Each of the several bends of each leg of the pin is isolatech'b'eing separated from, or joine'd to, the most nearly adjacent bend of a straight section. i

Each two most nearly adjacent bends of a leg` eXtend in respectively opposite directions1 from the plane in which both legs normally lie.

All the straight sections of both legs extend in approximately a common plane, and therefor'e, also, the several straight Sections of each leg are not only parallel but their aXes eXtend along, a common straight line or approximtely so.

Having' now fully described my iinvenjoined to its most nearly adj acent straight section by a single bend, the straight Sections and bends of one leg` being' respectively opposite the straight Sections and bends of the other leg, all the bends being at an angle to a plane normally approxim'ately coincident with the anes of the straight Sections of both legs, each bend extending` oppositely to the most nearly adjacent bend of the same legas well as oppositely to the corresponding bend of the other leg.

2. A hair pin comprising` a single wire bent upon itself to provide two legs; each leg' having a single approximately middle undulatioin a single upper undulation between the middle undulation and the upper end bend andV a single lower u'ndulation'between the middle undulation and the free .lower end of the leg; there being straight Sections connecting the middle undulation with the upper and lower undulations and Straight Sections co'inecting` the upper end bend with the'upper undulation and the free lower end with the lower 'undula'tiom said straight Sections com'prising` the larger part of the total length of a leg; the undulations and straight sections of one leg being re'- spectively opposite those of the other leg; all the undulations extendin'g at an angle to a plane approximately coincident with the axes of the straight sections of both legs, and each undulation extending oppo'sitely to the most nearly adjacent undulation of the same leg` as well as oppositely to the corresponding` undulation of the other leg.

In testimony of which invention. I have hereunto set my hand at Philadelphia, Pa., on this 11th day of March. 1921. i

WALTER F. PEET. 

